Dive brief:
- Pharmaceutical manufacturer Schott Pharma will build a prefillable polymer and glass syringe facility in North Carolina for use in GLP-1 therapies to treat diabetes or obesity, according to a March 18 press release.
- The $371 million project in Wilson County will add 401 jobs to the region, with groundbreaking expected by the end of the year and operations expected to begin in 2027.
- Bringing production to the United States will “shorten delivery times and lower transportation costs, as well as protect against future shortages of critical medicines and ensure pandemic preparedness,” the company said in the statement.
Diving knowledge:
The new site will be Schott Pharma’s first glass and polymer syringe facility in the US as a company aims to expand the domestic supply chain of syringes used in injectable drugs, vaccines and other fields. It will also enable Schott Pharma to triple its supply of glass and polymer syringes to the US market by 2030, according to the press release.
“As drug manufacturers develop and expand the use of mRNA, GLP-1 and other biologic therapies that require precise drug stability and storage properties, SCHOTT Pharma will be able to fill these orders quickly and efficiently here in the United States,” said Andreas Reisse, CEO. said in the press release.
The company has also expanded its syringe manufacturing overseas in recent years. In 2022, the company opened a pre-filled polymer syringe plant in Germany and a glass syringe production facility in Hungary.
Schott Pharma’s North Carolina project will be helped in part by a state Workforce Development Investment Grant, which gives the company potential reimbursement of up to nearly $5 million over 12 years .
“The impact of this facility will go far beyond local job creation in North Carolina and ease stress on the entire pharmaceutical supply chain,” Reisse said.
Schott Pharma currently operates six manufacturing facilities in the US and has a vial manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
The company chose the location because of its proximity to the Research Triangle area, which is home to numerous universities, healthcare companies and biopharmaceutical resources, Schott North America President Christopher Cassidy said in the statement.
North Carolina has become a pharmaceutical manufacturing hot spot as demand for GLP-1 products continues to grow. Eli Lilly is expanding production of its diabetes drugs at its Concord site as early as late 2024, while National Resilience is increasing its filling and finishing operations for gene therapy drugs at Research Triangle Park.
